In European elections, Italian Islands is a constituency of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. It consists of the

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

and

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. As in the other Italian constituencies, it has only a procedural goal to choose the elected MEPs inside party lists, the distribution of seats between different parties being calculated at national level (called ''Collegio Unico Nazionale'', National Single Constituency).

Criticism

Due to the significant population difference between the islands, the Constituency does not secure the same amount of representation for the two islands: the elected MEPs usually come only from

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

and leave out

. The latter does not usually have its own representatives, unless they get enough votes in Sicily too (like in 2014) or some Sicilian MEPs resign, leaving space for the Sardinian candidates. Critics of the Italian law defining the constituency boundaries have compared this electoral imbalance with

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, an

island country An island country, island state or an island nation is a country whose primary territory consists of one or more islands or parts of islands. Approximately 25% of all independent countries are island countries. Island countries are historically ...

with less than ten percent of the population of this constituency that has an equal number of MEPs. Being the

Sardinians The Sardinians, or Sards ( sc, Sardos or ; Italian and Sassarese: ''Sardi''; Gallurese: ''Saldi''), are a Romance language-speaking ethnic group native to Sardinia, from which the western Mediterranean island and autonomous region of Italy de ...

a recognized minority language group (unlike Sicily), the Association for the Protection of the Rights of the Sardinians appealed to the courts, so as to see their right to be granted a fixed number of MEPs,''Parties, associations ask for direct representation of Sardinia in European Parliament'', Nationalia
/ref> but such demands have been rejected by the Italian Constitutional Court. Likewise, the proposal to split the constituency has been blocked by the Italian Parliament.''Il Senato affonda il collegio Sardegna, per l’Isola nessun europarlamentare'', Sardiniapost.it
/ref>

External links

European Election News by European Election Law Association (Eurela)

References

European Parliament constituencies in Italy 1979 establishments in Italy Constituencies established in 1979 Politics of Sardinia Politics of Sicily {{EU-stub